


once you start to love her

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, But only if you've not seen the second episode, F/M, Het, Rare Pair, Romance, minor spoilers for Season Three
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 07:57:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9312503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Captain Singh makes Joe join him for a stint of surveillance work. Turns out the good captain might just have an ulterior motive.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boomersoonerash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boomersoonerash/gifts).



> Theme: the universe  
> Prompt : any, any, You better run for cover  
> You better hide your heart  
> 'Cause once you start to love her  
> You know you'll never stop  
> She shines like a diamond  
> When she walks into a room  
> She can charm the stars  
> Hypnotize the moon (withasmile)  
> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/784454.html?thread=101564742#t101564742
> 
> Seriously, this is one of my all time favourite songs, there was no way I wasn't doing it! Not so sure if the prompt has much to do with the actual fic but I got to see the video for the first time in years and this is where it led me!

"Stop pulling at your collar." 

David's voice - Joe supposed he was allowed think of him as David, rather than Captain - came from behind him and Joe turned his head, lifted one eyebrow and tried not to let his first thought come out of his mouth. With barely a pause, what came out instead was, "Now I remember why I hate these monkey suits." 

David chuckled, raised a glass of champagne - just the one, they were, after all, here to work, sort of - to his lips. "You'd better start talking Iris into a beach wedding then." 

Joe didn't even stop to think about his response to that. He straight up rolled his eyes but from the twitch of David's lips, he was fairly sure he was meant to. "And when was the last time I was able to talk that girl into anything?" 

It was actually a genuine question and David treated it as such. "No time in the last twenty years." 

"Got that right." Joe chuckled as he let his eyes wander across the ballroom, at the movers and shakers of the Central City scientific and financial communities gathered all in the one place for Mercury Labs' latest announcement. "You really think there's gonna be trouble here?" 

David made a face, quickly schooled it back to neutrality. "Doctor McGee seemed pretty spooked by the threats," he said and from what he knew of Tina, Joe agreed. The woman had been rattled, which was one of the reasons Joe had agreed to this whole undercover in plain sight escapade. This, after all, was a woman who had been kidnapped by Zoom and barely turned a hair; seeing her pale and frightened had been as unexpected as it was unwelcome. "You spot anything yet?" 

"Aside from a whole lotta rich people drinking free champagne?" Joe shook his head. "Not a thing." Which, aside from the tux, was another thing that was irking him. For all that David had made a big song and dance about wanting his best people there, his most experienced set of eyes, as near as Joe could see, he wasn't doing anything that some wet behind the ears rookie couldn't have done just as well. 

He was about to say as much to David when he saw the look on the other man's face - perfect neutrality, eyes fixed on something across the room, the look that had brought to an end every stakeout they'd ever been on as partners. It instantly made his internal radar react and he turned his head, followed David's gaze in case he'd spotted what they'd been looking for all night. 

What he saw made any words die in his throat. 

Because Caitlin had just walked in, hair and make-up styled to perfection, in a long, shimmering blue dress that clung to every curve. The off the shoulder neckline exposed large amounts of skin to his gaze and as she looked around, tucking a non-existent strand of hair behind one ear, the polished silver of her new power inhibitors caught the light, shining brightly and almost blinding him. 

Then again, he thought, maybe it wasn't the silver doing that. 

Maybe it was her. 

He pushed the thought away as quickly as it came because they'd been there, done that, knew nothing good could come of it, not if Iris's reaction - everyone's reaction, really - was anything to go by. 

Swallowing hard, he raised his own champagne flute to his lips, hoping it would help. It didn't and he turned to David, hoping he hadn't noticed the reaction. 

The grin on his friend's face - and at least he really hoped it was his friend, not his captain - put paid to that notion. 

It did, however, give rise to another one. 

Like the fact that while Joe hadn't known Caitlin was going to be here, David had been in charge of this op. He was the one who'd seen the guest list, the list he hadn't let Joe see, telling him he'd already taken care of it. The list he'd seen before ordering Joe to get his tuxedo out of mothballs so that he could be a trustworthy pair of eyes and ears at this shindig. 

That and the fact that he'd been one of the few people who had raised no objection to Joe and Caitlin's relationship in the first place, made a whole set of pieces fall into place. 

"You bastard." 

David chuckled. "Now is that any way to talk to your captain?" He didn't sound upset though and he definitely didn't look it. 

"I'll apologise if you tell me that you had no idea she was going to be here and that's not why you brought me along to this dog and pony show." Joe ground out the words between gritted teeth before his gaze swung back in Caitlin's direction. Their eyes met and a shiver that had nothing to do with cold ran down his spine. Even from across the room, he could see how her breath caught, how she bit her lower lip before she turned away as Doctor McGee came over to her. The smile on Caitlin's face as the two women hugged was obviously forced and she turned slightly as she talked to Tina, so that her back was to Joe. 

That might have helped her but it didn't help him at all because the dress was just as flattering from behind. 

"No can do, my friend." All traces of humour were gone from David's voice. "Because that is not the face of a woman who's fine with the two of you being just friends." He made air quotes around the final two words. "And I know for damn sure you're not fine with it - you haven't been this grumpy around the squad room since you and Iris weren't talking." 

"There's a lot you don't know-"

"There's a lot I don't want to know." David didn't let him finish and this time his tone was his Captain's tone, the one that had rookies quaking in their boots. "But I know when my friend needs to be told to get out of his own way."

"And this is one of those times?"

"This is one of those times." David glanced back to Caitlin, shrugged one shoulder. "Look, Doctor McGee's gonna make a speech in a few minutes. If nothing happens, we get to go home. Or you could stick around. Have some champagne, maybe even do a little dancing." His lips curled up in a teasing grin. "Shame to waste an outfit like that." 

He moved away then, left Joe to study the room, though his gaze kept coming back to Caitlin. Only partly because of his emotions, their relationship though, because it seemed like he wasn't the only one who noticed how dazzling she looked. There were any amount of men who walked over to talk to her and by the time Tina took the stage, Joe was honest enough to admit that he had a raging case of the green eyed monster. 

And when the speech passed without incident, when the band were playing and David was staring at him from across the room, his very expression a dare, Joe's feet were moving before his mind had even registered that he'd made a decision. 

That was how he found himself standing in front of Caitlin - who looked even more amazing up close - and saying simply, "May I have this dance?" 

For a second, she bit her lip again, eyes dropping down. Then she looked up at him, a soft smile curling her lips. "I'd like that." 

The dance floor was crowded but they found a spot near the edge, his right hand settling comfortably against the small of her back, her left hand warm between his shoulder blades. Their other hands were joined and it seemed the most natural thing to do to place them over his heart and hope she wouldn't notice how fast it was beating - or maybe that she would. 

"I didn't know you'd be here," she said, at the same time as he said, "I didn't know you'd be here." 

They laughed and, for a moment it was like the room disappeared, like it was just the two of them. 

Just like it used to be. 

And in that moment, Joe realised something. 

That, no matter what he might have told himself, that they weren't serious, that they could stop seeing one another and it wouldn't cost him anything, he'd been wrong. Because even though he'd known that he'd started to fall in love with her, he'd told himself that he wasn't too far gone, that he could stop and everything would go back to the way that it had always been. 

But with that laughter, with her hand in his and his body pressed close to her and her smile and her eyes shining like a diamond, he knows he can't stop. 

He never did, never could. 

He swallowed hard. "Doctor McGee got some threats," he told her, and he wasn't surprised when she nodded. 

"She told me." Her lips twisted. "She also mentioned something about a police presence but didn't mention names." 

Joe blinked as a thought occurred to him. "Captain Singh roped me in... But wouldn't let me within a hundred feet of the guest list." Which had struck him as unusual at the time, though he thought he'd realised why once she'd walked in the door. Now though, he was suddenly seeing conspiracies everywhere. 

From the tilt of her head, the purse of her lips, the same thought must have occurred to Caitlin. "You don't think..."

"Nah." But there was no real conviction in the word. 

"Still..." Caitlin's voice was lighter suddenly. Her hand moved slightly on his back as she leaned away from him, giving her a little more space to let her eyes flick up and down his frame. "It could be worse. I never knew you could wear a tux so well." 

Grinning, Joe slid his hand around her waist, moving so that their bodies were flush together once more. "You look beautiful."

A flush darkened her cheeks and her smile broadened as her fingers tightened on his. "Thank you." 

They danced in silence for a moment, eyes locked, feet barely moving. 

Joe's voice was quiet when he finally spoke. "I've missed you." 

Caitlin's smile dimmed a little. "I've been right here." She said it with a shrug, like she was trying to be playful, but he knew her well enough to hear the hurt under her voice that she was trying to hide. Just like he'd heard it the night they'd reluctantly agreed to call things off. 

He'd chosen to ignore it then. 

He knew better than to make the same mistake twice. 

"I've missed us," he corrected. Once again, she bit her lip as she looked down, sucking in a deep breath as she did so. "Is it just me?" 

He fancied he knew the answer. Still, when she looked up, didn't speak but shook her head, it was something of a relief. 

"I think we were wrong," he told her. "I think that... no matter what people say about us... no matter what people think about us... I want to be with you. I want to try."

The smile was back, bigger and brighter than ever. "Me too." 

Those two words were all he needed to hear to have him leaning in, brushing his lips across hers. A brief kiss, it still sent shivers down his spine and when he pulled back, he could see goosebumps dotting her skin too. She was still smiling though and when she lowered her head, let it fall to his shoulder, he rested his cheek on top of hers, put their joined hands over his heart. 

And if across the room he noticed David Singh and Tina McGee clinking flutes of champagne together, to mention it to Caitlin would have broken the moment, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. So he just kept on dancing and let the rest of the world fall away.


End file.
